The Cabinet Office is refusing to release the findings of an investigation it’s concluded into which senior civil servant – with access to their official Twitter account – posted an anti-Dominic Cummings Tweet on the day of his post-Barnard Castle Rose Garden press appearance. Ironically exactly the sort of biased, left-wing civil service culture Cummings was desperate to reform…

An FoI request asking for an update to their investigation has revealed the information regarding the internal investigation, launched in May 2020, does now exist and is held by the department, however they are refusing to release it on grounds that disclosure:

“would be likely, to prejudice the exercise of the Cabinet Office’s functions”

They won’t even say whether the person who Tweeted that the PM’s office were “truth twisters”, and that his defence of Cummings was “arrogant and offensive”, falls below the standards of “proper conduct”.

Unsurprisingly the legal request for information also failed to yield the name of the person responsible, refusing even to say whether that information is held by the Cabinet Office. The release goes on to imply the department’s head of FoI’s believes that releasing the name of the anti-Cummings civil servant would undermine their ability to investigate future acts of improper conduct. Desperate, self-serving obfuscation…

Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is right to call Big Tech’s banning of Trump “problematic”, though Guido is not sure that it can be described accurately as a breach of the “fundamental right to free speech”. The Big Tech platforms are just withdrawing their services, which may seem like an academic distinction in terms of the outcome, it is however important to distinguish between a state enforcing a ban in law and a private enterprise choosing to not provide a service. Germany has strict laws which regulate free speech in ways that we don’t want to import.

Facebook and Twitter saw their share prices fall yesterday as investors worried that regulations were going to hit the firms in the wake of politicians around the globe realising that if it could happen to Trump, it could happen to them. France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire said yesterday that “Digital regulation should not be done by the digital oligarchy itself . . . Regulation of the digital arena is a matter for the sovereign people, governments and the judiciary.” By which he really means politicians like him.

The de-platforming of Trump and the alternative Parler social network, after Amazon pulled the plug on it, reveals where real power lies. The solution is a return to the first principles of the internet. Resilience is surrendered by relying on the main social networks, which are advertiser funded and reliant on giving brands a safe space. Fortunately the architecture of the internet was designed to allow information to flow even if the network was damaged. New social networks that are self-hosted, distributed and decentralised will be developed, they exist already and could soon gain critical mass. Many have just experienced a surge in new users after the Trump ban.

Some of the decentralised services have millions of members, Mastadon‘s codebase allows you to build your own Twitter-like social network, you can either keep it private or open it out to the wider world. We will inevitably now see decentralised and politically polarised networks develop, possibly in the shadows, unregulated. Information wants to be free and the internet enables it. The Big Tech platforms have probably made the big mistake that Mark Zuckerberg has been determined to avoid from the beginning, it could see them go the way of AOL…

Jeremy Corbyn’s position as Britain’s leading out-of-touch, hopeless cult leader* was secured today after he took victory in a Twitter poll world cup of ‘Greatest PMs we never had’ so seriously he recorded a victory speech, claiming the win – which only came after a considerable push from Corbynite Twitter accounts to hijack the fun poll – didn’t “give the response that a lot of our media pundits really expected – or possibly the one that they wanted”. It’s truly staggering that after 5 years of leadership, Corbyn still takes social media support on a platform primarily used by young people – and had #KickBorisOut and #VoteTheToriesOut trending on election day – seriously…

*Only just pipping his brother Piers, who was arrested for leading the anti-science, anti-medicine, anti-vaxxer protest at Trafalgar Square at the weekend

Today marks the eighth annual #PositiveTwitterDay, where we all try to be a bit nicer on the internet’s favourite pressure cooker website. Last year Guido’s Editor-in-Chief explained to Sky’s viewers what it’s all about…

Help spread a bit of civility in these polarised times. Twitter can be a place for the exchange of information rather than the abuse of political opponents. To tweet your support just click this link #PositiveTwitterDay

After Guido’s multiple exposés on Rob Roberts’ behaviour finally made their way into the mainstream media, the gaffe-prone MP for Delyn deleted his social media. Recently, a parody account of the MP got in touch with Guido after his suspicions were raised upon repeatedly seeing one anonymous username attacking him on Twitter – @Joe26806114. Guido’s had a look through ‘Joe”s Tweets and can’t help noticing almost all his Tweets are directed at the Rob Roberts parody account and the Delyn Labour Party branch; as well as repeated defences of Boris and attacking the Welsh Labour government.

What do readers reckon? Rob’s not known for his cunning and subtlety…

This Friday is the final Friday in August – so it is time for #PositiveTwitterDay This is our annual effort to see if we can all take one day off from the polarising culture war and be more civil, at least for one day. Please do share the #PositiveTwitterDay hashtag and join in. None of us are immune from negativity, Guido is a repeat offender. Even sinners like Guido can repent…

Since we started the yearly online happening in 2012, mental health charities and other organisations have got involved and helped spread the message. Last year Twitter hosted an event at their London HQ, that won’t be happening in these socially distant times. Don’t forget it is not just pay day on Friday, it is #PositiveTwitterDay. Let’s try for one day to make Twitter a positive experience for everyone…

To tweet your support just click this link: #PositiveTwitterDay